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Students tutor at South Pointe

Math Club members and other student volunteers have been tutoring South Pointe Middle School students every other Wednesday from Feb. 24 to April 20. A banquet was held as a display of gratitude on May 4 at South Pointe.

Each tutoring session ran for about one hour, and volunteers helped students with all subjects.

“The most challenging part [about tutoring] was keeping the kids on task. Around this age, they have unbounded energy and are easily distracted. It was challenging to keep them focused on homework without talking about or doing other things,” sophomore Lena Trinh said.

Volunteers helped answer homework questions and with studying for any upcoming tests. They also gave test-taking advice to the middle schoolers, including tips such as using the process of elimination and coming back to a problem later if they were stuck on it for too long.

“I was glad I could help and bring a positive influence to someone’s life by using my knowledge,” junior Yoori Cho said. “It was nice talking to them because they reminded me of my middle school years. I wish I could go back and tell myself, ‘don’t do this, don’t do that,’ but since I can’t, I can make sure these kids don’t make the same mistakes I did.”

The tutors also helped by walking students through step-by-step processes if they were struggling.

“I make sure that they understand exactly what’s going on in each progressive step until they get the problem,” Trinh said. “The best part is seeing how happy they become when they finally understand something that they [did] not get. It really empowers them.”

In addition to giving the middle schoolers academic assistance, the volunteers also offered the students advice about high school.

“I told [the students] to always challenge themselves with various activities, clubs and teams,” Cho said. “Most of these kids are from families where their parents are too busy to look after them or don’t speak English. [They] can’t get any help from their parents, so they don’t really have the motivation to study or do their homework on their own. I just hope that they find a motivation to work and try their best all the time, not necessarily [just] for academic achievements but also to find a dream to chase after.”